


In the Air

by eafay70



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Airplanes, Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Fear of Flying, M/M, Meet-Cute, Not Hockey Players (Hockey RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-23 08:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21316936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Nick doesn't like flying, but a conversation with the cute guy sitting next to him makes things better.
Relationships: Nick Bjugstad/Jared McCann
Kudos: 10
Collections: Pens Monthly





	In the Air

**Author's Note:**

> This fic uses the following November 2019 prompts from Pens Monthly:  
-player (Nick Bjugstad)  
-photo ([this picture of an airplane](https://www.flickr.com/photos/travisolbrich/9023244408/in/photolist-eKmucs-7pbhyS-93gzyw-2aaqP8E-9z1Wh4-Tpzso2-eWYEcw-TcCc1u-rFxrRP-r9enw-52AAF-24dT2ri-4UoWYW-5UMCj-2F7eLv-2mvP4d-4pzEEh-5UMXq-UGMmsE-LRnAp-7aprwi-hpZMbs-J1FtMP-e5wv4L-2fSsXfn-SdbsSy-Y8uhLA-CsQciP-afiWdh-4D8zFq-7Mk2p2-Tb2tEx-6Y2Ab2-A9Fgu-e3sWpr-2fu9UcM-9rKke1-ebcKcj-eb78Ua-eb7wjk-ebd8yQ-7ncmvs-eb7h2v-eb742c-ebd7yJ-c43Df3-ebd9Ps-dUECNr-ebcyLj-Xi6JAT))
> 
> Note: Nick's fear of flying is described in a few physical symptoms (shaky hands, churning stomach, nausea) and a nervous feeling, but not in great depth.
> 
> A very big thank you to kaixo who provided valuable insight as a beta reader despite not even going here! :D

It was time to board the flight from Pittsburgh to Minnesota. Nick forced himself to smile as he walked to the gate, showed his boarding pass to the flight attendant, and walked to the plane itself, where he smiled at another flight attendant before finding his seat. He wasted no time in shoving his carry-on bag under the seat in front of him and sitting down, grateful that he didn't have to climb over anyone to reach his window seat. It was nice of his parents to get him a window seat, Nick supposed, but right now it wasn't doing much for his poor nerves.

Nick took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on anything but the plane around him. He was vaguely aware of someone sitting down next to him, followed by the flight attendants giving the standard safety speech, but he didn't fully concentrate on the plane again until sometime after takeoff, when they hit turbulence. His hands began to shake and his stomach began to churn - why was this happening?! The absolute last thing he needed was for something to go wrong on this flight.

The turbulence came to an end, but Nick couldn't quite relax. He pressed his hands against the armrests, which got them to stop shaking. After a few moments, his stomach felt better, too - at least he wouldn't need the sickbag.

"Excuse me?"

Nick turned to face the speaker, who was sitting next to him. Scratch his earlier thought - the absolute last thing he needed was for a really hot guy to talk to him on this flight. "Yeah?" he squeaked.

The guy smiled softly. "I was wondering if you had a pen? This one died."

"Um..." Nick shifted slightly to reach his jacket pocket and dug around, eventually finding a pen. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" The guy wrote something down on the back of a business card; Nick couldn't read upside down, but it appeared to be a brief message. After adding what guessed were several exclamation points, the guy held out the pen. his fingernails about as messy as Nick's nerves felt. "I'm Jared, by the way."

"I'm Nick." He grabbed the pen and shoved it back into his pocket. He silently wondered why Jared had introduced himself, rather than end the conversation after giving back the pen.

Unfortunately for Nick, the turbulence returned with a vengeance, prompting him to grip the armrests and groan at his squeamish stomach. "You okay?" Jared asked quietly.

"No," Nick admitted without thinking. "I'm scared of flying. But driving would mean taking more time off from work, so my parents bought me plane tickets."

Jared hummed in sympathy. "I fly a lot, so I'm used to it, but I don't enjoy it."

Nick took another deep breath. "Do you go anywhere more interesting than Minnesota?"

Jared shrugged. "I enjoy my work, which makes the flying more bearable, but the places themselves aren't all that interesting. I certainly have the miles to go somewhere much more interesting, but I'd rather go on a cruise or something."

"I've always wanted to go on a cruise." Nick managed a small smile at the thought despite his lingering queasiness. "Maybe I can convince my parents to do a family cruise for their next big anniversary."

"Maybe," Jared smiled.

Something about Jared's smile made Nick calm down enough to ask, "So, what's your job that sends you to so many uninteresting places?"

"I help coordinate art exhibits in local museums," Jared explained. After going into more detail about exactly what that meant, he asked Nick about his job. They wound up spending most of the flight talking, which meant Nick felt a little sad when the captain announced they were landing. Jared looked a little disappointed, but quickly handed a business card to Nick: "This has my phone number on it, if you wanted to text?"

"I'd like that a lot." Nick put the card in his pocket next to the pen. "What did you write down, by the way?"

Jared showed Nick a different business card, the back of which read, 'CHARGE PHONE!' He laughed and said, "I need it for work, but now I have a better reason."

Nick blushed. "Thanks for helping make this such a good flight."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is greatly appreciated!


End file.
